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Marketing

Auctions and Direct Sales

Approximately 60% of Uganda's flower exports go to the auction and 40% to direct sales. Most of the Ugandan roses go to FloraHolland(FH) auction and the rest to Aalsmeer Auction. Roses are recieved by flower importers or processors like Roto Flowers or Van Beek Bloemen who put them in buckets. They then send them to the auction or to companies that receive flowers for direct sales from exporters. Flowers at the auction are purchased and re-distributed within Holland or to importers in other countries like USA, Norway, Sweden United Kingdom and Germany. The Chrysanthemums are sold directly to their parent companies in Holland namely, Fides Holland, Deliflor and Van Zanten.

Floraholland Auction and Aalsmeer Auction are the major importers of roses from Uganda. Each of them receives 50% of flowers sent to the auctions. Rose varieties that had the biggest export share to Floraholland Auction included; Chelsea, Poeme!Red Calypso, Sunbeam, Frisco and Sacha. Previous favourites like Lambada, Frisco and Escimo had reduced export share in recent years.

Fresh Handling Facility

Fresh Handling Limited (FHL) handles the flower exports of all the UFEA members. The company began in 2000 with grants from the USAID-IDEA project, but largely financed by horticultural exporters purchasing shares in it. It organises air freight for the exporters by chartering planes ahead of time and books cargo space for the flowers. This has been very useful in preventing bottlenecks especially in the peak exporting periods. Dairo Air Service (DAS) is the commonly used carrier because it flies direct to Amsterdam. Other carriers include Sabena, Ice Mark and British Airways.

  • The Fresh Handling Ltd aims to maximize the effectiveness of the old chain from the point of delivery at the airport to the point of loading onto the aircraft.
  • It ensures the quality of the products is maintained by the careful handling, palletisation and transportation.
  • Offers handling and cold store facilities to anyone wishing to avail themselves of such airport facilities.
  • Provides its services at the lowest possible price.

    Performance
    The performance over the years of existence has been impressive and FHL succeeded in meeting most of the objectives of the shareholders.
  • There was significant annual increase in volumes handled.

    • FHL Export Statistics from 2000 to 2004
    Product

    7 months to Dec 2000

    		 Year 2001 Year 2002 Year 2003

    2004
    Flower     1,244,009       2,939,891       3,707,736  4,145,610    5,174,693
    Chrysanthemum Cuttings       200,571         640,977         789,061     822,075       1,103,853
    Total       1,444,580         3,580,868         4,496,797     4,967,685       6,278,546

    Source: FHL/Anova, 2005

    Quality and Prices

  • There were minimal quality losses due to damage which enabled the growers to benefit from the higher market prices for that good quality produce.
  • Ugandan flowers improved quality and consistency of delivery which the customers expect
  • FHL managed to increase the number of cargo carriers to Uganda due to the organised system of available cargo from exporters and the increased throughput and efficiency of the facility.
  • The cost of airfreight ‘door to door’ to European destinations had reduced significantly from $2.40 per Kg in 2000 to $1.60 per Kg in 2004. These plans were thwarted by the high world fuel prices.